Monday, March 31, 2008

Wee Tiny Socks

Late last week I heard about the Wee Tiny Sock Swap in one of the issues of Lime and Violet's Daily Chum. I haven't really gotten involved in any of these swaps or the wars, but something about this one seemed so sweet that I jumped on board.

The first thing I had to do was figure out what yarn to use. Like all knitters, I have more small balls of yarn than you can shake a stick (or needle) at. Rifling through that stash of leftovers felt like a virtual history of both my knitting and my life. Here was a ball from my very first sweater, Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky in Cream. There was a ball of handspun I picked up on a trip to visit my brother in Wyoming. I found yarns still on bobbins from my first attempt at intarsia....before I took a class to learn how to do it properly. The sweater with all the holes had long since been frogged and turned into something else.

Then I found the yarn for this project. It was just a tiny bit of Shepherd Sock yarn in Shadow. This yarn was from the very first Lorna's Laces I every cast on.

Way back in fall of 2002 I flew out to California to visit Lorna Miser and check out the company. I spent two days with her seeing the operation and learning what Lorna's Laces was all about. During the course of the visit I learned that Shepherd Sock was her best-selling yarn. I had never knit a sock but I figured that if I was serious about buying the company, girl should knit at least one pair.

Lorna offered me any color I wanted so I picked up some Shadow. I stopped at the LYS on the way to the airport and bought some size 1 dpn's. Once I got to the the gate, I cast on. It's a four hour flight, so I had plenty of time to get my feet wet with the sock-knitting. I have to admit that it wasn't love at first stitch. I looked at these tiny little needles and this fingering weight yarn and thought to myself that I will persevere and finish these socks, but I don't think there will be any more in my future.

Then I turned my first heel...and I literally squealed. I've had a pair of socks on needles ever since. It was like crack. I couldn't stop. There is just something about socks that feels so right. They are portable, everyone wears them, they aren't a big commitment in time or money, it's rare that you'll finish a pair of socks and realize the silhouette isn't right for your body type or that the color makes you look washed out. Socks are good.

So, I had found the yarn for my Wee Tiny Sock. And had a wonderful trip down memory lane to boot. Look how cute it is.

And even more fun, here it is with that first pair of socks. I still wear them.